The annual GLAAD Media Awards, which “honor media for fair, accurate, and inclusive representations of LGBTQ people and issues,” included several stories, writers, and outlets from the HIV community among their 2022 award nominees.
For the first time, POZ Magazine has been nominated in the category of Outstanding Magazine Overall Coverage, a distinctive accomplishment that speaks to the magazine’s journalistic depth. It is nominated alongside four well-established national publications – a fact that isn’t lost on POZ Magazine editor Oriol Gutierrez.
“Being nominated for a GLAAD award is an honor,” Gutierrez said, “but being in the same company as The Advocate, Entertainment Weekly, People and Variety for outstanding magazine overall coverage is humbling. POZ amplifies the voices of people living with HIV and our allies. LGBTQ folks are an integral part of our readership. As such, we always have and always will uplift LGBTQ stories.”
For a sixth time, My Fabulous Disease was nominated in the category of Outstanding Blog, becoming the most recognized HIV site in the history of the GLAAD Awards (it won the category in 2020). It is written by long-term HIV survivor (and POZ Magazine contributor) Mark S. King.
“Tell your story, if you are privileged enough to share it,” King encouraged. “It has been a lifelong honor to share mine, and more and more, to turn the spotlight on people and programs that inspire me. Well, and sometimes, to kick some ass when there are HIV issues or controversies that piss me off.”
Another nominee in the blog category, The Reckoning, is written by and for Black LGBTQ+ people and often tackles the topic of HIV from unique and thought-provoking angles.
There are so many HIV-related nominees this year that the GLAAD site actually provides this breakdown of nominees who are addressing HIV from a multitude of perspectives:
At a time when stigma and misinformation about HIV is still extremely widespread, many nominees for the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards have helped to combat these issues by telling stories of LGBTQ people living with HIV and/or highlighting issues related to HIV in nuanced and impactful ways.
In the film and television categories, those nominees include: tick, tick… BOOM!, Nuclear Family, Pose, Halston, and It’s A Sin.
Mykki Blanco, a Black trans artist living with HIV, is nominated for Outstanding Music Artist.
In the journalism categories, nominees featuring stories of people living with HIV and/or highlighting issues related to HIV include: “HIV/AIDS: 40 Years Later” TODAY (NBC), “Anderson Speaks to Legendary AIDS and Gay Rights Activist” Anderson Cooper Full Circle (CNNgo), “PRIDE on ABC News Live: What’s Next for the LGBTQ+ Community” (ABC News Live), “Billy Porter Breaks a 14-Year Silence: ‘This Is What HIV-Positive Looks Like Now’” by Billy Porter, as told by Lacey Rose (The Hollywood Reporter), “The Year of the Black Queer Revolution” by Ernest Owens (Rolling Stone), “Across the South, a Trans Housing Movement Grows” by Raquel Willis (VOGUE.com), “Let’s Talk About (Queer) Sex: The Importance of LGBTQ-inclusive Sex Education in Schools” by David Oliver (USAToday.com), “No, DaBaby, HIV Will Not ‘Make You Die in 2 to 3 Weeks.’ Here’s the Truth.” by David Artavia (Yahoo.com), “What I’ve Learned After Living with HIV in Secret for Years” by Tony Morrison (GoodMorningAmerica.com), and “+Talk: HIV & Faith” (Plus Life Media).
Congratulations to the nominees, and to GLAAD for acknowledging HIV storylines and writers.
The GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies, which fund GLAAD’s work to accelerate LGBTQ acceptance, will be held in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton on Saturday, April 2, 2022 and in New York at the Hilton Midtown on Friday, May 6, 2022.